Precious Innocense
by liquidstar
Summary: An orphanage story about a frightening scare at the beach...Main Characters: Squall and Seifer, but everyone else is in here too! R


A/N:First of all, thanks to my knight X Launcher for the title!It took me forever to think of one.JThis was just a little something I did when I was supposed to be asleep, took me about half an hour.Enjoy!R&R please!

Sunsets on the beach were always so beautiful in summer.Tiny flames of red leapt upon the salty waves, as the last rays of sunlight disappeared, making room for the darkness sure to come.Night would be coming soon.The children played while they could, for their Matron wouldn't let them out after dark.There were six of them.All about 9 or 10 years of age, their clothes wet and sandy from an entire day of playing amongst the waves.A little girl, her eyes green as springtime, laughed in joy as the waters lapped at her tiny bare feet.Her brown hair was tangled from the wind, and her face was elfin in appearance.She smiled as a young boy ran up behind her, and put his hands over her eyes."Guess who?"

"Irvy!" the girl exclaimed immediately.

He grinned, tossing his sun streaked mahogany ponytail over one bare shoulder."Aw Sefie, how'd you guess?"Wrapping his arms about her waist, he lifted her high above the water as a wave crashed to shore.She shrieked with laughter clinging to him in mock fear. 

"Put me down!"

"I'm going to drop you," he teased, blue eyes sparkling with mirth.

"You wouldn't dare!" she gasped.

He made to let her go, and then caught her again, carrying her to shore."Haha!Scared you, didn't I?"

She pounded her fists on his chest.

"Let me down!"

He dropped her…into the sand.

"Ooh!Irvine likes Selphie!Irvine likes Selphie!" a boy with spiky blonde hair yelled, skipping around the beach in a taunting manner.

"I do not!Shut up, Zell!" Irvine glared at him, making fists and waving them menacingly in the air.Selphie blushed, wiping the sand off her lithe form.

"What do you know 'bout love anyway, Zelly?"

Zell stopped skipping and thought for a moment."Matron watches this show on T.V sometimes, an' people are always kissing and stuff."

"So?Sefie and I have never kissed, so we're not in love!" Irvine said matter-of-factly, but was cut short, as the tiny brunette stood on tiptoe to kiss him hard on the mouth, then scamper off.The boy stared after her, dumbfounded, while Zell fell onto the sand, giggling.

"Selphie loves Irvine!Selphie loves Irvine!"He was silenced by a swift kick in the side, and Irvine ran down the beach after his little girlfriend.

"Sefie!Wait!"

A tall blonde boy, noticing Zell on the ground, took the opportunity to attack while his enemy was down.Zell coughed and spluttered, spitting sand out and rubbing his eyes."Seifer!Stop it!"Seifer grinned.

"Sure thing, Chicken-Wuss!"He threw more sand at him, and Zell yelped in pain as the tiny grains stung his sun browned skin."Owwwww!!!I'm gonna tell Matron!"

"Go tell Matron, loser.Run to Matron." Seifer sneered.

"I will!" the younger boy cried, close to tears, and leapt up, running towards the house.Seifer almost ran after him, and then decided against it.Zell may have been a big crybaby, but no one, not even little Selphie, could run as fast as the agile 9 year old, even on the beach when the sand slowed him down a bit.

Seifer decided to go swimming instead, though he knew that Matron expressly forbade going into the ocean without her.He was strong for his age, and figured he could handle the undertow.Wading out until the cold seawater was up to his waist, the blonde took a deep breath and dived in, letting the chilling water flow over his hot, sunburned body.Then, kicking off the bottom, he burst to the surface, grinning ear to ear.

A young girl watched him, the wind rippling her pale peach dress.She moved a hand to tuck a strand of golden hair behind one ear, as she debated whether to tell Matron what the boy was doing.Shaking her head, she continued down the beach, smiling as she saw Selphie and Irvine walking hand in hand by the edge of the water, laughing and chattering.

Farther down, perched on a rock, the waves crashing and spraying against the black granite, a boy sat, staring silently out to sea.He was very still, and his expression was somber, making him look far beyond his 9 years.Brown hair fell in front of his face, but he made no move to push it away.He'd been sitting there pretty much all day, though he had gone swimming earlier with Irvine and Matron and then only because he had gotten hot.But he'd much rather sit on the rocks, watching the ocean.

"Squall!"

He sighed.That would be Quistis, come to check on him.He made no move to answer her, or even show that he'd heard her call.He listened to her footsteps as she scrambled up beside him, dangling her legs down the side.

"What do you want?" he asked finally.She shrugged, and reached up to fix her hair again, fastening it back in its golden ponytail.

"Nothing.You looked lonely, is all."

"I'm not."

"Oh…" They sat there for a while in silence.It wasn't an awkward silence, but the silence of two kids who have known each other their entire lives and felt no need to clutter the air with mindless talk.Idly, Squall watched Seifer swim about, only his shock of blonde hair visible above the dark waves.And then he was gone.Squall blinked, trying to figure out if it was a trick of the light.But no, Seifer had disappeared.He didn't stop to think, didn't stop to consider the danger of what he was about to do.His mind reacted automatically and he stood up, and dove off the rock.

Dimly, he heard Quistis screaming for help, but the water blocked his hearing as he swam deeper and deeper, farther out into the ocean, to where he had last seen Seifer.His young, untried limbs became sore and heavy as lead, his muscles numbed completely until he could no longer feel the icy chill of the seawater.All he could focus on was finding Seifer, and bringing him back to shore.It became a sort of chant._Seifer…swim…Seifer…swim…Seifer…swim…_He didn't know where he was going, the salt blinded him.Once he thought he felt something grab at him, but he swum faster and the thing fell away._Seifer…swim…Seifer…swim…Seifer…I am a lion.I will not give up.A lion._It was only a stroke of luck that Squall found him.Diving underwater again, he could see the water churning as the boy squirmed about frantically, trying to get free of the reef his foot was stuck in.He stopped moving, and his eyes opened wide as Squall kicked off the upper edge of the reef, gliding down to where Seifer was trapped.Weak as he was, Squall tugged at the rock with a burst of inner strength, and the rock rolled away, freeing Seifer's foot.The older boy floated to the surface limply, guided by Squall's pushes.Both gasped as they reached the surface, and the blonde tyrant allowed Squall to pull him through the water towards shore.

Everyone stood at the shore anxiously, and Matron ran into the shallow water, her glossy black hair flying behind her.She bent down and scooped Seifer up, cradling him tightly to her.Quistis waded in to help Squall to his feet."You all right?" she asked softly.The tired boy could only nod meekly, and didn't protest as the golden-haired girl put an arm about him as they walked back to the house.

The stone cottage seemed dark and cold that evening, and the children huddled around the fire, whispering quietly.Matron had said that it was a miracle that Squall had found poor Seifer, a miracle that Squall had gotten to him in time.Nothing like this had ever happened before.Once Selphie had fallen out of a tree and broken her leg, but after a month or two she was fine.Another time, while Ellone was there, she had gotten very sick, and had to stay in bed for three weeks.But she had gotten better too.No one had ever been close to dying.Seifer lay in Matron's own bed, asleep.Irvine, being the strongest after Squall, had helped Matron with Seifer, and he had told the others that he thought Seifer had swallowed at least half the ocean.Selphie, Quistis, and Zell had just laughed nervously, and watched the doorway, anxious for Matron to appear with the verdict.When she finally came, her beautiful young face was tired, and Squall could have sworn there was one line too many."Seifer is awake."The room buzzed with excitement."Children!"Silence again."Seifer is awake, and Squall…" Squall looked up from his place by the fire, wrapping the blanket tighter around his shoulders."He wants to see you."

"Me?"Squall raised a questioning eyebrow, but nodded and padded past Matron into the bedroom.

The room was dim, and Seifer's pale face seemed strange in the flickering lamplight.He looked…weak, and that frightened Squall.The two boys never knew it, but they were each other's strengths.As long as one was good at something, the other would fight to be better.But Squall took no pleasure in seeing his enemy like this.

"Seifer?" His voice seemed hesitant, not willing to break the silence.

Seifer turned and gave the younger boy a steady look of appraisal."Squall…"So many things were said in that one tiny utterance._Thank you for saving my life, Squall.I don't hate you.I admire you.We'll never be friends, but I'm sorry.I'm sorry Squall._Things that Seifer would never say out loud.Squall burned these things into his heart.Nothing else needed to be said.Squall smiled, and went back to the hearth.


End file.
